The Official Record Store Chart is a weekly

music chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often ...

based on physical sales of albums in almost 100 independent

record store A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were ...

s in the United Kingdom, such as Rough Trade,

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

, Jumbo and Sound It Out. It is compiled by the

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

(OCC), and each week's number one is first announced on Friday evenings on the OCC's official website. The chart's launch was first announced by the OCC on 17 April 2012 – at the time, British record stores were selling 4.5 million albums per year, and were contributing towards 95 per cent of the country's total vinyl sales. However,

music download A music download (commonly referred to as a digital download) is the digital transfer of music via the Internet into a device capable of decoding and playing it, such as a personal computer, portable media player, MP3 player or smartphone. Thi ...

s held a considerable share of the albums market, leading to a decline in the number of outlets. In promoting the chart, Martin Talbot, managing director of the OCC, remarked that he could see the benefits to both digital and physical album sales, but that there was "nothing nicer than the smell and feel of a nice chunky vinyl". The Official Record Store Chart was first broadcast by British DJ

Steve Lamacq Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio station BBC Radio 6 Music. Early life He attended The Ramsey Academy ...

on his eponymous radio programme on BBC 6 Music; the first number one was '' Boys & Girls'', the debut studio album by American band

Alabama Shakes Alabama Shakes were an American rock band formed in Athens, Alabama, in 2009. The band consists of lead singer and guitarist Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, and drummer Steve Johnson. The band began its career touring ...

Geoff Travis Geoff Travis (born 2 February 1952) is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1978. Biography Travis wa ...

, founder of Rough Trade, the label that distributed ''Boys & Girls'', stated that he was "very proud" that his label had achieved this feat. The first Official Record Store Chart was announced on Friday 20 April 2012, five days later than normal, to coincide with the eve of the UK's fourth annual

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

, an international initiative founded to encourage purchases at record shops. Talbot explained that the purpose of the chart was to "help spread the Record Store Day word throughout the year".

Best-selling albums in record stores by year

See also

References

External links